Category: Article History

Confronting Hero Worship (2)

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson
Copyright 2014 Theresa Harvard Johnson
 
Introduction
 
If you haven’t already done so, I want to encourage you to take a look at the blog, “The Idolatry Chart.” In it, Holy Spirit quickened me to identify five prevailing types of idolatry that is plaguing Babylon (the world system) and our local congregations. Each of these forms of idolatry take the place of “God, our Father in Heaven” in the lives of individuals suffering from their effects. If not exposed, confronted and overcome, those affected will begin to reap corruption, deceive others and become consumed by their own deceptive world.
 
People of God, we are constantly being called to awaken to truth.

Narcissism: A prevailing problem among scribes and artisans (2)

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson
 
Copyright 2014 Theresa Harvard Johnson
 
Introduction
Holy Spirit quickened me to identify five prevailing types of idolatry that plagues our local congregations and creative ministries. This article is one in a series that assists the believer in identifying specific types of idolatry, confronting them and providing insight on how to overcome them.
 
All forms of idolatry take the place of “God, our Father in Heaven” in the lives of individuals suffering from their effects. If not exposed, confronted and overcome, those affected will begin to reproduce this stronghold in the midst of ministries… duplicating it in the lives of others and create entire ministries that hover under its effects. Nearly every creative person will encounter “narcissism” in their own lives or the environment in which they seek to grow and thrive. Beware! Eradicate it!

National Poetry Month: Remembering Maya Angelou (2)

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson

Copyright 2014 Theresa Harvard Johnson

As a little girl, I didn’t have many heroes.

But like the generations before us we tend to admire people who, for whatever reason, spoke life and hope into our circumstances, described the societal highs and lows that defined culture and gave rise to revolutions. Maya Angelou, right alongside her deeply contrasting counterpart and fictional character – Nancy Drew, was one of those people to me. They rested in my “Writer’s Hall of Fame” right next to poets Georgia Johnson and Margaret Walker.

As a little girl I dreamed passionately of being a writer. In my play time I was a successful “investigative news reporter and poet” all at the same time. I was also black. Even at 11 years old I understood what that meant in the deep south, and in a household with parents who had survived the Civil Rights Movement and were getting used to not having to drink from “colored only water fountains” and ride in the back seat of the city bus. Their stories are forever engraved in my memory.

 

As I type this, I am fondly reminded of my old poetry books full of comments and notes sitting on the shelves behind me that taught history better than history books; that told stories broader than novels; and that spoke for my mother and father’s generation in a way that no documentary ever could. The truth of poets like Maya Angelou flow from the heart of passionate storytellers, those who understand what it means to “have voice” and “be heard.”

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Article History

I PRAY (Rhyming Poem) (2)

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson
Copyright 2012 Theresa Harvard Johnson 
(Original Artwork/Mixed Media/Theresa Harvard Johnson)
 
It could be me standing accused, 
feeling ashamed,
as men who don’t know me 
slander and curse my name.
 
It could be my picture, old videos, and transcripts 
scattered across the evening news,
being discussed, dissected 
and un-relent-lessly skewed.
 
It could be my family sitting 
innocently under the questioning eyes of men,
watching the world throw bricks and stones, 
mocking my God and counting my sins.
 
It could be me realizing, 
how quickly good deeds or works fade;
and how a name synonymous for years with charity, 
can instantly be regarded with hate.

A Tribute To Poet Georgia Douglas Johnson (2)

Posted on by Theresa Harvard Johnson

Copyright 2017 Theresa Harvard Johnson

Of all the forms of writing that exist in the world today, poetry rests at the center of my heart – especially poetry from the Harlem Renaissance (1920s-1930s), an explosive period in Black history in which excellence in all forms of art, particularly literature and music, took the nation by storm and brought a level of healing to the races. For a short time, it became the cultural center of the nation and today, its legacy is so profound that it stands as the epoch of Black artistic diaspora.

This movement was baaaaad!

I owe my poetic awakening to my first grade teacher in the 1970s who would read the works of Black poets in homeroom every morning. She would bring the words from the book to life! I would slouch in my wooden desk as she enunciated every word with such grace, elegance and power as my pigtails swung back and forth and the heels of my Buster Browns tapped the floor. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her; and my ears were trained to hear every poem from that point forward that I would ever read.

I was captivated: A Black girl lost in poetry.

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Article History